Eddie Lane

Childhood memories of leaving Malta at the outbreak of war and life on the Home Front.

Leaving Malta

Photograph of Eddie as a child during the war.

Eddie Lane

Eddie Lane was three years old when the war broke out in September 1939. He lived with his family in Malta as his father was in the Navy. When war was declared civilians were told to leave the island. Eddie and his family returned to Britain, where they docked at Liverpool before returning to Chatham. They temporarily stayed with Eddie’s grandparents, before returning to the family home which had been rented out whilst they were abroad.

Life on the Home Front

Eddie does not recall being frightened during the war years. When he began school in 1941 he recalls drawing pictures of dogfights. Eddie was more concerned with staying out of trouble at school than the war – being rapped over the knuckles with a ruler worried him more that Hitler did! He recalls one particularly ironic incident when he threw a stone in the playground. Although it did not go far he was told off. Despite the close proximity of damaged buildings and the severity of war time events, it has since occurred to Eddie that reinforcing the necessity of good behaviour and a resulting sense of normality was most important. Life was to continue as normal.

Eddie was the youngest member of the family and was not evacuated during the war. Subsequently he recalls spending a significant amount of time with his neighbours, in particular a couple whose children had been evacuated to Wales. Eddie spent a lot of time with the father at his allotment, and the mother gave Eddie some of her son’s toys to play with – he was not very happy when he returned home from Wales!

Rationing

Eddie does not recall ever being hungry during the war years, despite the effects of rationing. However, this did not stop him from being fussy. One day he accompanied his mother to visit her cousin in Gillingham. He repeatedly complained that he was hungry until he was presented with a bowl of cold rice pudding and he suddenly lost his appetite. Eddie recalls that meals were frequently the same although his mother did the best that she could, considering the shortages. On Mondays the family had cold meat, on Tuesdays, Shepherd’s Pie and fish on Fridays. He recalls that there was always plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables available and many grew their own produce.

Air Raids

As Chatham did not receive as many hits as other docks, Eddie and his family did not always shelter during raids. On one occasion he recalls being very frightened when it sounded as though a bomb was above the house. His father was on leave and despite having been on a ship which had been torpedoed in the Mediterranean, Eddie recalls that he was the first person to dive under the table.

Wartime stories

Eddie recalls hearing the stories which his father told him of his wartime experiences. For instance, in 1944 he was sent to Canada to stand-by a warship being completed at Port Arthur on Lake Superior. On his return to Chatham, Eddie recalls how his father had brought with him a Canadian child’s construction set and a jigsaw puzzle of the world. Children’s toys were in short supply during the war due to rationing and the jigsaw remains a treasured belonging to Eddie to this day.

Whilst in Canada his father joined the Canadian Legion. On a holiday to Canada in 1998, Eddie visited the Banff Alberta branch of the Canadian Legion and told them about his father’s time in the country. He received a warm welcome and the members were especially interested in his father’s old membership card. Despite being involved in many dangerous situations he lived until the age of ninety – the only injury he received was from being bitten whilst feeding the family cat.